Should the Postal Service request financial relief from the $6.8 billion FERS surplus?

The Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) is one of the retirement programs of the U.S. government, and benefits are extended to U.S. Postal Service employees. FERS is administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Congress established the guidelines for OPM to set contribution rates and can alter them by passing new law or amending an existing law. Postal Service employees who began their careers after December 31, 1983, are automatically enrolled in the FERS. For Postal Service employees, a majority of FERS funding is accomplished through Postal Service contributions. The rest is paid by postal employees. During fiscal year 2009, the Postal Service contributed $3 billion to FERS or 11.2 percent of the salaries for FERS employees. As of September 30, 2009, the Postal Service reported a fully funded FERS pension plan that exceeds liabilities by $6.8 billion.

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It’s no secret the Postal Service is in a financial crisis after a $3.8 billion loss in 2009, and a projected $7 billion loss for 2010 after approximately $4 billion in cost reductions. In January 2010, the OIG reported that the Postal Service had been overcharged for FERS’s sister retirement plan, the Civil Service Retirement System or CSRS, by $75 billion. There is a complication that may reduce the FERS surplus in the future. President Obama recently signed a bill granting credit for unused sick leave for FERS retirees. The exact effect on the pension liability is unknown, but it doesn’t take an actuary to understand that it creates an additional future obligation. If the Postal Service has met its current financial obligations for FERS, should it be relieved of its future contributions? What do you think? This topic is hosted by the OIG’s Office of Audit Financial Reporting team.

Comments (12)

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the postal service should be allowed to go to a 5 day delivery and should not be allowed to have the so called overpayments to fers or csrs they should just change these pensions are funded in the future.

--Since all these problems are caused by mismanagement, they should have a pay cut.Anyway when USPS were generating money, they had huge bonuses.
--Inspect those business route with less than 50% delivery on Saturdays because businesses are closed every Saturdays.So they can combine 2-3 route into 1 route permanently on Saturdays
--No more stressful working environment so employee are happy to work. And so not to many people calling &amp; sick.
--Set a PO Box for each city, where employee can send letter of suggestions on how to save USPS money even in a small ways
--Fired Potter...........PLEASE.......

HOW TO SAVE USPS
1)Fired Potter.His salary alone will save USPS right away
2)Eliminate management position who are not physically handling mail.
3)Eliminate carriers management position because they are too many.If you'll look at the record,until now carriers still have a lot of overtime.Some of the management needs to step down to carry mail since they were carriers before.

To clarify this post, the subject matters are related
to the quandary.
Earlier in the year, I watched a hearing on USPS
appropriations with congressional actors Senator Susan Collins, and Senator Richard Durbin. The other actors were John Potter, Dave Williams, Ruth Goldway,
and Phillip Herr. I believe appropriations were the theme, among other USPS matters pending...
I'm a little bit confused about FERS...
Furthermore, the relationship between the question you are asking has no merit until OA, OMB, and the congressional sub-committee determine if (1) Mr. Williams purported $75B "lottery exists?"
Assuming this is a dynamic fund, based on AAA investment thresholds, that value would presumably
be stable, and revenues are re-invested or recognized in the form of dividends, what are you asking?
It's not like the fund holders can exercise a vote
by proxy?
I guess from my third grade perspective of how the "law" works, Congress can do what they want.
My interpretation of this fund likens it to a proclamation of a disaster by emergency agencies when jurisdictions are affected by a catastrophe.
You can declare a disaster for anything, but that
does not entitle you to relief funds. That simply sets the stage for a whole tsunami of bureaucratic
evaluations, and sub-committee's tasked with determining entitlement and delivering the money.
I was unaware that the Board of Governors could rule
on FERS until this (2) OIG supporting challenge has been affirmed by congress?
(1) 'lottery ticket" as described by GAO, as claims of testimony of Mr. David Williams, OIG during appropriation hearings (Sens Collins and Durbin presided)
(2)Testimony by members of Office of Personnel Management, Government Accounting Office, and Postal Regulatory Commission and Office of Management and Budget.
So what exactly are you asking? Unless I've missed something in protocal?
Is there a winning $75 Billion dollar unclaimed ticket
or not?

If you don't like the 2006 agreement/law then eliminate all of it which includes the overpayments to Potter and his executives. Don't stop funding employee's retirement. The truth is Potter has never been a good PMG, there was so much waste when we had "mail volume", and now he is not capable of showing leadership. I am in management and the waste is incredible. Potter has only added executives! Where is the elimination of executives, elimination of the overpayment to Potter and his deferred payment, and the VOE shows no support for the executives. President Obama needs to set an example with Federal Executives they are not the same as a CEO. Potter has never been a good PMG. Take his and his executive's money and deferred payments first and foremost!! Eliminate the oversized executive staff!

How many times will the post office, OIG, GAO keep coming up with all of these bogus numbers? It is getting pretty well documented that any thing that has to do with "Postal Finances" is nothing more than a lie

The post office generates $3 million per hour. 28% of the mail that is processed by independent mail processors is not delivered. All mail is paid for in advance. Put postal officials on performance based contracts. Delivery of the mail should be based on accuracy not weight. I get mail that is addressed to my mother who died in 1994. This mail is not monitored for delivery and can be stored indefinitly. This allows for fraud regarding the mail volume figures. The arrangement between the equipment manufacturer and the post office constitutes racketeering. Consider that the primary customers of the post office are the independent mail processors who were created by the post office. These companies are given discounts for processing the mail(28% is not delivered) and they are given the same tax free lease on the equipment that is given to the post office by the equipment manufacturer. Postmaster John Potter would like to close the distribution centers that employ postal workers. When this is done storage of the mail will be hidden completely. As the cost of postage goes up, the cost of mail processing has gone down from $55 per 1000 pieces of mail to $5. Anyone who believes that the post office is losing money is a fool. Gangsters don't lose money! They don't pay taxes! How can they lose money?
The elderly and the disabled should get free postage and the people who were exploited as the transition was being made to automation should be compensated retroactively. The Hatch Act Amendments were passed so the postal employee would be isolated from government protection as they were being abused and eliminated. The OIG's office perpitrated and condoned the treatment of these senior employees and has allowed postal management to submit fraudulent data regarding mail volume since the Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco in 1989.

Can you clowns in the OIG actually with a staight face tell me the PO will not abuse and waste this money? Management blows money out the door everyday with unwise spending and all at once we're suppose to let them use this fund? Other govt agencies can't so what makes the PO so special besides wasteful spending? Don't even consider going down this road while the PO is spending extra money each day sending details all over the country to justify open management positions.

Reduce management ranks and the postal service will save money.
when you compare the amount of craft workers that have left to the number of EAS people who have left you will find out that not enough of the EAS has been reduced. reduce the EAS and you will save enough money to break even.

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